Mas Garnacha, Por Favor!

Here’s is a follow up on Project Garnacha.  First, a quick summary of all the Grenaches I tasted and how they ranked.  In general, I preferred the pure Grenache over the blends.  Spanish Grenache also outperformed Australian in this tasting.  You’ll also notice that the most expensive bottle is at the bottom of the list as a bad bottle.  I didn’t provide a rating for it as the bottle had obviously gone bad.  I guess I got suckered on that one.

100% Grenache (all Spanish Wine)

Grenache Blends (Spanish except the last two are Austrailian Wine)

What Others are Saying

I was curious what other bloggers had to say about my top picks for Grenache, so I did some exploring and it was rather interesting. 

Here is a video review I found of Michael Lam of the Beverage Review (whatever that is) tasting Abrazo.  He claims to be a professional taster.  He’s somewhat of a tool, but I like his assessment.  Except for the part about seaweed… I didn’t taste that and really don’t want to taste seaweed in my wine.  I also like the fact that he’s Asian and the audio doesn’t synch up with his lips… it’s like watching a kung fu theater wine tasting.  At least he’s not as obnoxious as Gary Vaynerchuk.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cItB6bXvdFA]

Chelsie’s Tasting Notes (a site with $5 and under ratings) had a different opinion about Abrazo.  She gave it a 2 out of 5.  That said, she was tasting the 2005 vintage, which could be very different.  And she found it for $3 which leads me to believe that the quality has declined.  I’ll have to do a follow up.

The 2003 Yasa Garnacha got a positive review but there wasn’t much out there on this one.  It is a from a small batch producer, so I guess most folks will just have to miss out.  Sorry.